Impact of COVID-19 crisis on archaeology: challenges for the future

Abstract

This paper focuses on the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic crisis that has had profound impacts on archaeological research activities and cultural heritage communication. We describe impacts on academic as well as contract archaeology, professionals, and cultural heritage institutions. We discuss current practices during the pandemic period, and we explore challenges for the post COVID-19 era, particularly in academic archaeology. Universities were quick to replace face-to-face lectures with online learning, but the closures affected learning and examinations on the sector of archaeology. The pandemic crisis raises questions about the value offered by a university education which includes networking opportunities as well as educational content. To remain relevant, universities will need to reinvent their learning environments so that digitalization expands and complements student-teacher and other relationships. During the
pandemic, organizations and projects provided fundings for online teaching and learning, activities such as webinars and online readings groups and other ways to stay active until a return to the normality is possible. Many archaeologists explored new tools for improving the digital documentation and related skills to be best prepared for future field seasons. In coming years archaeologists will face many challenges. We explain why the community could adopt Open Science practices, not entirely new in archaeology, to overcome all these challenges and why creativity and openness to new ways, to new opportunities of working are needed, rather than trying to go back to business as usual.